A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
the quality of being complete; unbroken condition; entirety
~ Webster
A wild patience has taken me this far
as if I had to bring to shore
a boat with a spasmodic outboard motor
old sweaters, nets, spray-mottled books
tossed in the prow
some kind of sun burning my shoulder-blades.
Splashing the oarlocks. Burning through.
Your fore-arms can get scalded, licked with pain
in a sun blotted like unspoken anger
behind a casual mist.
The length of daylight
this far north, in this
forty-ninth year of my life
is critical.
The light is critical: of me, of this
long-dreamed, involuntary landing
on the arm of an inland sea.
The glitter of the shoal
depleting into shadow
I recognize: the stand of pines
violet-black really, green in the old postcard
but really I have nothing but myself
to go by; nothing
stands in the realm of pure necessity
except what my hands can hold.
Nothing but myself?….My selves.
After so long, this answer.
As if I had always known
I steer the boat in, simply.
The motor dying on the pebbles
cicadas taking up the hum
dropped in the silence.
Anger and tenderness: my selves.
And now I can believe they breathe in me
as angels, not polarities.
Anger and tenderness: the spider’s genius
to spin and weave in the same action
from her own body, anywhere —
even from a broken web.
The cabin in the stand of pines
is still for sale. I know this. Know the print
of the last foot, the hand that slammed and locked the door,
then stopped to wreathe the rain-smashed clematis
back on the trellis
for no one’s sake except its own.
I know the chart nailed to the wallboards
the icy kettle squatting on the burner.
The hands that hammered in those nails
emptied that kettle one last time
are these two hands
and they have caught the baby leaping
from between trembling legs
and they have worked the vacuum aspirator
and stroked the sweated temples
and steered the boat there through this hot
misblotted sunlight, critical light
imperceptibly scalding
the skin these hands will also salve.
A few random poems:
- Supernatural Songs by William Butler Yeats
- Adieu to Belshanny by William Allingham
- Олег Григорьев – Четверорукими ногами
- Олег Бундур – Февраль
- For A Fatherless Son by Sylvia Plath
- Flowers of Sion: Sonnet 11 – The last and greatest herald by William Drummond
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Тост
- Milton (Alcaics) poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Валерий Брюсов – После сенокоса
- Solar Eclipse by Siegfried Sassoon
- Forbidden Fruit by Mukeshkumar Raval
- Михаил Лермонтов – Вечер после дождя
- Proactive Responses to Recession – 7 Creative Ways to Make Extra Money With Real Estate
- Николай Огарев – Она никогда его не любила
- The Sun Has Long Been Set by William Wordsworth
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- The Day Of Wrath / Dies Iræ poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Confederate Flags poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Bride poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- T.A.H. poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Presentiment poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Polyphemus poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Politics poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- On The Wedding Of The Aeronaut poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Montefiore poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Matter For Gratitude poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Matter For Gratitude poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Invocation poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- In Defense poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Geotheos poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Elixer Vitæ poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Elixer Vitæ poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Egotist poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- In Defense poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Creation poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Convalescent poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.